TNA Can't Handle Paul Freaking Heyman

[Fox]

In an interview with MMA Hour Live, Paul Heyman talked a bit about working with TNA, saying the following:
“They’re not ready for me. They’re not there yet. I kind of have self-justified my own interest in TNA as a network of stock and ownership. I left pro wrestling in December 2006 and I haven’t done one shoot DVD, one convention appearance, one cameo. I haven’t done anything on wrestling.”
Heyman confirmed that TNA has reached out to him many times in the last year but he didn’t take it seriously until Dixie Carter contacted him and offered him potential ownership points and stock, as well as potential side projects with Spike TV. He concluded though that they weren’t ready for his ideas, particularly using things from MMA to influence wrestling. He also said that TNA is not looking long term and only wants short term solutions and that they don’t have their own vision for what they want to be.
Heyman added that he would get rid of everyone over 40 in TNA if he was in charge, saying their place is to be used for promotional events, autograph signings, and video games, but not as the core, noting that TNA’s focus seems to be on former ECW guys in their 40s, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair.
“If you were over 40, I’d chop your f***ing head off. I want a guy who is entering the prime of his career and shape him and mold him.”
“Imagine if all they did the entire show was promote the Beer Money vs. Motor City Machineguns match and had Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and the ECW guys saying they needed to see that match and said these guys are the future now. Then, if you put that match in the main event – as opposed to the middle of the card with no follow-up – and produce and present them as the main event. Then, if ‘you buy this product, this is the progressive type of presentation we are going to present to you.’ Instead, you have Hulk Hogan in his 50s thanking ECW guys in their 40s before the ECW guys are beat up by a group led by Ric Flair in his 60s.”

Pretty dead on, if you ask me.

If TNA presented the 5th and final match between the MCMG and Beer Money the way that Heyman is talking about, I think the show would have been ten times better. As much as I'd love to see Heyman get his hands on, and actually control, an upstart promotion with so much incredible talent like TNA, he's absolutely right: they are not ready for his ideas.

[teamXtremist]

heyman is totally right man he could do wonders for tna.

i wonder what ideas he has trying to integrate mma and pro wrestling?!?!

[Supreme Olajuwon]

The thing that I always find amusing about this stuff is that Heyman's ideas are not ground breaking nor are they revolutionary. Basically his plan is to 1) highlight the positive attributes of the company, 2) get rid of boring/stale parts of the company, and 3) develop a long term goal and work toward that goal. That isn't revolutionary, that's common sense. And the fact that TNA doesn't understand this is just hilarious.

[Funky Fly]

The thing that I always find amusing about this stuff is that Heyman's ideas are not ground breaking nor are they revolutionary. Basically his plan is to 1) highlight the positive attributes of the company, 2) get rid of boring/stale parts of the company, and 3) develop a long term goal and work toward that goal. That isn't revolutionary, that's common sense. And the fact that TNA doesn't understand this is just hilarious.

Indeed. People paint Heyman as some kind of booking god, when really he's just not retarded.

[dronepool]

Heyman has a good point.

[Savio]

I could have sworn there was a thread title like this back in 2006

[McLegend]

Indeed. People paint Heyman as some kind of booking god, when really he's just not retarded.

That's the secert.

[Savio]

When you are in the wrestling industry that is really the same thing.

[Jeritron]

I love that Heyman even tells it as it is on the matter of the ECW stuff.

[The Pope]

WWE can't either, which is why he's not there.

[Next Big Thing]

It's not that Heyman's ideas are groundbreaking, it's that he's the only one with the balls to try to implement them. Russo takes the short bus to work and Bischoff has had his head so far up Hogan's ass, the Hulkster hasn't had to chew for himself since 1996, so of course he isn't going to do anything that takes Hogan or his old ass friends out of the picture and Dixie, is clueless although she means well.

However, I also think there's some self preservation on Heyman's part. As things stand right now, there are a lot of people who view him as this savior and wrestling genius. It's much easier for him to stay on the sidelines and say stuff like this than it is to take a risk that his ideas won't take off as well in real life as they do on paper and have his legacy tarnished due to his association with TNA.

[Droford]

Rob Van Dam isn't 40 yet so I guess he would get to stay til December..

[Kane Knight]

TNA couldn't handle a ten year old on a sugar high.

[Destro 2.0]

TNA can't handle there own dicks let alone Paul Heyman. Let me say this PAUL HEYMAN IN NO SHAPE OR FORM COULD EVER BRING THIS SHIT COMPANY OUT OF THE GUTTER!!!

[Londoner]

WWE can't either, which is why he's not there.

Totally missing the point. WWE isn't desperately going after Heyman.

[Juan]

5 bucks says this turns into another "TNA vs WWE" name-calling debate.

[Kane Knight]

5 bucks says this turns into another "TNA vs WWE" name-calling debate.

TNA ARE SHEEPLE!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Paul Heyman is dead on the money. As many have said, it's not that he's presenting anything ground-breaking. He just knows the right thing to do, and that's highlight your strengths, and cut out the older guys taking up TV time.

[TazFTW86]

I agree with Paul E...he can help the company a bit...as for WWE, thats because the McMahons want shit done their way ...wasnt it Heymans idead to push Lesner, Benoit and Guerrero for champions?

[Fox]

On a related note, here's an excerpt from Powerslam Magazine with Heyman.

PowerSlam - You said in a previous Interview that 'TNA's biggest problem is they have no vision for their brand.' Nothing has changed since then?
Heyman - Unfortunately TNA's vision to get to 2015 is to go through 1995.

Let's get to the crux of the matter. Come on Paul: tell us. Are you interested in working with Dixie's company?
I'm interested in doing anything that is extraordinary, that is creatively stimulating and has a huge upside to it... I'm interested in owning the New York Yankees. I'm interested in being head of a network.

You Are? Where is this going?
I'm interested in running a franchise. And TNA is a franchise. If I think that it is a viable project that can make serious inroads and turn a huge profit, yes. In that aspect, absolutely it's something that has captured my attention.

Hypothetically speaking, what would TNA have to give you in order for you to make a commitment to the comapny?
I think UFC has the right model in terms of Fertittas and Dana White. It's a clear demostration of someone [White] who was given the ability to take a brand [UFC] which had some serious baggage to it and, yet, also had still had a huge upside available, and who was given the [opportunity] to sink or swim on his own merits and the merits of the team he put in place [to run the company].
The problems with TNA include, and are not limited to, the writing, the presentation, the marketing, advertising, cross-promotion, the synergistic opportunities that are wasted right now, the positioning of the brand itself to Main street, Wall Street and Madison Avenue. It's a complete overhaul thats needed...
[TNA] is, by all accounts, a wonderful place to work. I haven't heard a bad thing about Dixie Carter, even from people who no longer work in TNA and are angry about it. You have some great people who have come together. There needs to be a way to implement the vision both in terms of a different way for the product to reach out into the future, and also as a progressive way to address the business concerns that this well funded company has.

I assume 'buisness concerns' relates to the money the company is now losing. TNA was profitable in 2008, and at least for a part of 2009. In July 2010, it has been losing money for several months, due to the outrageous salaries paid to the likes of Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair and the cost's related to iMPACT!'s disatrous move to Monday Night between March and May.
Bluntly, I don't think it matters if TNA is profitable or unprofitable at the moment. They have sucha small percentage of the market share, and they should have far more. There's a chance to take it, and they're not capitalising on their current position or structure.

I was heartened when I learned that Dixie was in serious talks with you. That she's speaking to you tells me she realises Hogan, Bischoff and Vince Russo have failed. If those three had the ideas and the overall strategy to make TNA successful, the company wouldn't need you, right?
I think the moment Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff agreed to work with Vince Russo and the moment Russo agreed to work with Hogan and Bischoff, it was destined to fail.

Why?
TNA is the victim of the road to Hell being paved with the best intentions. You could take Steve Jobs from Apple and Bill Gates from Microsoft, and create a a whole new Technology company. But if you were to make them co-chairmen, it's destined to fail because Jobs looks at creating a company, then building a company and having a management style and think-tank in a far different way than Bill GAtes would. It doesn't make either one of them wrong. It just means that when you mix two minds together, you water-down each instead of creating a collaborative effort.
Visions need to be very personal. And there has to be someone who has the ability to say, "I'm leading the direction of the company, and this is the way to go. And I will be judged as a success or a failure based on my ability or inability to implement this vision." When it's too many people's visions [for the company], you have to appease the other people, which immediately means you've entered into a mindset of compromise.
Do Hogan, Bischoff or Russo have the ability to pull it off? I don't have that answer. The asnwer I do have for you is that they're never going to get a chance to demostrate it, because they're spending way too much of their time trying to make sure that everyone in the room feels they have contributed, and that their sensitivities are appeased. And that is a formula for failure.

You've spent a lot of time in this interview talking about the wresting market share, and how TNA controls so little of it, even with the support of television partner Spike TV. My final question to you is: is Paul Heyman the man to help TNA reach out and seize considerably more of that market share?
I think Paul Heyman would put together a team of people that would be uniquely qualified to do so. I would not accept this job if I didn't think that I could put together a team that could make a serious go of this. Brock Lesner would not enter the octagon if he thought he was going to get his ass kicked and end up in the loser's column. Brock Lesnar went back into the octagon becasue he knew he could be the current, reigning undisputed UFC champion. I feel the very same way about the qualifications of a team I would envision putting together on behalf of TNA to directly go after a reasonable market share that is controlled by the WWE.
I'm not going to make any grandiose claims that we're going to knock Vince McMahon out of the buisness. I don't think anybody who's rational could ever make that statement. I don't think WWE is going to be driven into the ground. I don't think you're going to get TNA to be on a par, in terms of public perception or licensing, with a monolith like WWE. But you could build an amazingly successful and highly profitable company that can deliver a standard-bearing product thats is impressive enought to be cool again with kids of today in the face of the burgeoning UFC culture.

[Xero]

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[Haze]

You have to wonder what would have happened had Paul Heyman had a network behind him backing his visions of ECW. The guy just seems to get it, which is more that can be said about other people in the buisness.

[Fox]

For some reason, Heyman's mother being a Holocaust survivor totally makes sense to me in regards to Heyman's character as a human being.

Great post, Xero.

[Xero]

Another part of the same interview:

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[erickman]

i kind of wish tna tried harder to get him last year over hogan, maby now mma and tna would merge and have duel events.

[Haze]

i kind of wish tna tried harder to get him last year over hogan, maby now mma and tna would merge and have duel events.

MMA is a legitmate sport, so I doubt we will ever see duel events.

[Swiss Ultimate]

They used to do it quite often in Japan actually.

[Xero]

Some Japanese wrestling promotions and wrestling in general is taken way more seriously than anything in the US, though.

[DLVH84]

Some Japanese wrestling promotions and wrestling in general is taken way more seriously than anything in the US, though.

Which is all the reason I enjoy their wrestling more often, and the fights between wrestlers and martial artists are called Different Style Fights.

[erickman]

Some Japanese wrestling promotions and wrestling in general is taken way more seriously than anything in the US, though.

then there is mexacan wrestling, i can see wrestling matches be undercards for mma fights, i think they would go good togather.

[bigslimjj]

They should hire one of us to run tna. I nominate me.:D

[BizarroKing]

A shaved ape can run TNA better than Hogan.

Also, Paul Heyman will now and forever be known to me as Paul Freakin' Heyman.

[Kane Knight]

You have to wonder what would have happened had Paul Heyman had a network behind him backing his visions of ECW. The guy just seems to get it, which is more that can be said about other people in the buisness.

Just to be realistic, most networks would have wanted to change things, and kill it the minute something went wrong. If he had a willing and supportive network, maybe, but ECW probably would have been tanked by the hand of the market.

MMA is a legitmate sport, so I doubt we will ever see duel events.

Aren't MMA events already duel events?

[Juan]

mexacan wrestling

[Kane Knight]

mexicool wrestling

[tjmidnight420]

They should hire one of us to run tna. I nominate me.:D

Who are you?